Ken and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance » japanese_motorcycle

Motorcycle Maker: Kawasaki

Ken — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 13:36:11 +0000

The only thing I can recall about Kawasaki is their green. While many bikes are black and red, green really stands out (orange is also another color that stands out).

Nevertheless I will not be caught dead on a green motorcycle.

Kawasaki again is a Japanese motorcycle company that is involved in many industry beside motorcycle. It’s official name is Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. which gives an idea of what else they build – ships, industrial plants, trains, robots, aerospace equipment.

The KLR650 is in the list of bikes that I would like to ride.

Kawasaki (kawasaki.com)

Japanese Motorcycle Makers

Ken — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 13:56:25 +0000

A while back you read about the major Italian motorcycle makers. Now it is time to round up the Japanese motorcycle makers.

Suzuki was featured yesterday. Other major Japanese motorcycle brands are Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki.

Talking about Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, it would be interesting to look at market share of these manufacturers put together. If you have a copy of this report, drop me the figure.

Motorcycle Maker: Suzuki

Ken — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 13:52:44 +0000

The second motorcyle that I owned was a Suzuki. Being a main stream brand it was easy to find parts and maintenance was cheap.

Suzuki was founded in 1909. Like many Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, Suzuki’s products cut across other industries, including cars, trucks and engines.

Check out all the Suzuki Motorcycle ever built!

Suzuki Cycles (suzukicycles.com)

Really about Motorcycle Maintenance

Ken — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 06:41:28 +0000

Unlike the book whose name inspired this site, this site is really about motorcycle maintenance.

When I rode my first bike like 8 years ago, one of the problem I faced was finding information about motorcycle maintenance. There wasn’t any book on the topic, not at least for the cheaper bike. Not for Japanese bike.

What was available was fancy information about custom bikes, fancy bikes, prototypes, fastest bike, latest model, test rides. Nothing along the line of helping the new biker who just brought a second hand bike for a few hundred dollars.
Motorcyclist like to trade stories, tell fellow riders what they had done before. When I park my bike at the parking lot, I talk to people, look at their bike. I never come across a car driver doing that.

Quoting a line from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

I had had the nerve to propose repair of his new eighteen-hundred dollar BMW, the pride of a half-century of German mechanical finesse, with a piece of old beer can!

It is story like this I like to collect and share. Not necessary my own.